Ian McDiarmid
| birth_place = Carnoustie, Scotland, United Kingdom | death_date = | death_place = | alma_mater = University of St Andrews | occupation = | years_active = 1968–present | known_for = Emperor Palpatine }} Ian McDiarmid ( ; born 11 August 1944) is a Scottish actor and director of stage and screen, best known for portraying Emperor Palpatine in the Star Wars film series. He has received an Olivier Award for Best Actor and a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performances. Early life McDiarmid was born in Carnoustie, Scotland. He became a theatre aficionado when he was five years old, when his father took him to see an act named Tommy Morgan at a theatre in Dundee. In 2004, he stated, "It sort of fascinated me, and it also scared me. All those lights, all that make-up. I said to myself, 'I don't know what this is, but I want it.'" However, fearing his father's disapproval, McDiarmid attended Queens College, Dundee, (now the University of Dundee, but then a constituent part of the University of St Andrews), where he received a M.A. in psychology. Soon after, he decided to pursue a career in the theatre instead, and took acting training courses at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. In 1968, McDiarmid received a gold medal for his work, the first of many recognitions given to him for his work in the theatre. McDiarmid claimed he became its recipient "by doing all the boring jobs you have to do when you are young, to eke out an existence."Star Wars Actors Database at Nerf-Herders-Anonymous.net; retrieved 23 August 2006. Career Theatre McDiarmid has won praise as an actor and director in British theatre. He has starred in several Shakespeare plays, including Hamlet (1972), The Tempest (1974, 2000), Much Ado About Nothing (1976), Trevor Nunn's 1976 Macbeth (television 1978), The Merchant of Venice (1984), and King Lear (2005). He played Ivanov in Tom Stoppard's play Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at the Mermaid Theatre in 1978. From 1990, McDiarmid and Jonathan Kent served as the artistic directors of the Almeida Theatre in Islington, London, gaining the commitment of prominent actresses such as Glenda Jackson and Claire Bloom for their productions.Matt Wolf "Theater; A New London Theater Team Is Attracting Stars", New York Times, 11 March 1990 The two men resigned in 2001 with the venue in good shape.Michael Billington "'Our time had come'", The Guardian, 5 September 2001 In 1998, they shared the Special Evening Standard Award for Theatrical Achievement of the Year. Their tenure was marked by a string of highly successful performances involving actors such as Kevin Spacey and Ralph Fiennes. While connected with the Almeida, McDiarmid directed plays such as Venice Preserv'd (1986) and Hippolytus (1991). In 2002, McDiarmid won Almeida Theatre's Critic's Circle Award for Best Actor for his role as Teddy in a revival of Brian Friel's Faith Healer. Five years later in 2006, he reprised this role in his debut on Broadway. Directed by Kent, he performed alongside Ralph Fiennes and Cherry Jones, and won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play. From April to June 2012, he played the title role in Timon of Athens at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. He portrayed Harry Hackamore in Sam Shepard's play Seduced. McDiarmid described Hackamore as a Howard Hughes-type character. To play the part, he was made up in prosthetics, including a false beard and long fingernails. McDiarmid was only 37 at the time, and this convinced George Lucas and Richard Marquand that he could convincingly play a much older character in extreme cinematic close-up, which helped him land the role of Palpatine. ''Star Wars'' After a minor part in the film Dragonslayer, McDiarmid was cast by George Lucas in Return of the Jedi as Emperor Palpatine, the main villain. Sixteen years after appearing in Return of the Jedi, he reprised the role as the character's younger incarnation of Senator (and later Chancellor) Palpatine and Sith Lord Darth Sidious in the prequel films: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. The prequels had him play two faces to his character; he re-created his diabolical interpretation of Palpatine from Return of the Jedi when playing Darth Sidious, the Chancellor's Sith alter ego, but created a pleasant, charming character in Palpatine's public persona. In the 2004 re-release of The Empire Strikes Back, a brief scene between Darth Vader and a hologram of Emperor Palpatine was updated to include McDiarmid. The Emperor was originally voiced by Clive Revill for that scene, and visually portrayed by Marjorie Eaton. With this addition to The Empire Strikes Back, McDiarmid has now appeared in every live-action film version in which Palpatine appears. On 12 April 2019 the official teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was released at Star Wars Celebration in Chicago, confirming that McDiarmid would make another appearance as the Emperor in the movie. He has also worked with the ''Star Wars'' expanded universe as the voice of Palpatine in the video game adaptations of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi: Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. McDiarmid made a small appearance during Celebration Europe. From 23–26 August 2012, he attended Celebration VI in Orlando, Florida, and had his own show titled The Phantom Menace: Ian McDiarmid, hosted by James Arnold Taylor, in which he talked about his experience working on Star Wars and how he landed the role of Palpatine. McDiarmid also voiced a pig version of Palpatine for a promo video on Angry Birds Star Wars II, entitled "Join the Pork Side". Television and radio McDiarmid took an early role as Mickey Hamilton, a killer intent on avenging the death of his wife and child in The Professionals for London Weekend Television. In 1990, he starred in the Central Independent Television series Inspector Morse's episode "Masonic Mysteries" as the psychopathic con man Hugo DeVries. In 1997, McDiarmid played the villain, Ronald Hinks, in the Touching Evil two-part episode "Through the Clouds/The Lost Boys". He played the role of police detective Porfiry Petrovich in the BBC's 2002 adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. In 2003, McDiarmid took the role of the Stuart statesman Edward Hyde, in the BBC series Charles II: The Power and The Passion. In 2005, he portrayed Satan in the 41-part BBC Radio 4 drama based on John Milton's Paradise Lost, which was subsequently re-broadcast on BBC 7. Recently, he played the writer and pioneer of policing, Henry Fielding, in the Channel 4 historical drama series City of Vice and Denis Thatcher in 2009's Margaret. McDiarmid played intelligence chief LeClerc in a 2009 BBC Radio dramatization of John le Carré's The Looking Glass War. In 2014, he played a leading role as British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey in the BBC television drama 37 Days, which is about the diplomatic crisis preceding the First World War. He also had a recurring role on series 2 of Utopia, playing the role of Anton. In September 2016, McDiarmid starred in the audio podcast drama series Akiha Den Den. He played Cuttings, a ham radio buff who picks up a mysterious voice (Joy McAvoy) coming from an abandoned amusement park. Work in theatre Stage appearances * Hamlet, Open Space Theatre, London, 1972 * And They Put Handcuffs on the Flowers, Open Space Theatre, London, 1973 * In the Jungle of Cities, Place Theatre, London, 1973 * Macbeth, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, England, 1973, then Bankside Globe Theatre, London, 1973 * Measure for Measure, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-on-Avon, England, 1974 * Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, London, 1975 * Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, England, 1976 * Destiny, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, 1976 * Dingo, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, 1976 * Schweyk in the Second World War, Royal Shakespeare Company, Other Place Theatre, 1976, then Warehouse Theatre, London, 1977 * Much Ado About Nothing, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon, 1976, then Aldwych Theatre, 1977 * That Good Between Us, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre, 1977 * Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre, 1977 * The Days of the Commune, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, 1977 * Dingo, Royal Shakespeare Company, Warehouse Theatre, 1978 * Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Mermaid Theatre, London, 1978 * Mephisto, adapted by Gordon McDougall from the book by Klaus Mann, Oxford Playhouse Company, The Roundhouse Theatre, London, 1981"Round House and Open Space, theatre companies: Catalogue of records in the Victoria and Albert Museum: Theatre Collections", Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 2013-06-12. * The Worlds, New Half Moon Theatre, London, 1981 * Ezra, New Half Moon Theatre, 1981 * Insignificance, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1982 * Tales from Hollywood, National Theatre, 1983 * The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen, the Royal Exchange, Manchester, 1983 * The Merchant of Venice, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1984 * The Party, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), London, 1985 * Henry V, Royal Shakespeare Company, Barbican Theatre, London, 1985 (Chorus) * The War Plays, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985 * Crimes in Hot Countries, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985 * The Castle, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985 * Downchild, Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit (Barbican Centre), 1985 * Edward II, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 1986 * The Saxon Shore, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1986 * Creditors, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1986 * The Danton Affair, Royal Shakespeare Company, Barbican Theatre, 1986 * The King Goes Forth to France, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, 1987 (Froissart)Milnes, Rodney. The King Goes Forth to France (Royal Opera at Covent Garden, April 1). Opera, May 1987, Vol.38 No.5 p575-580. * Don Carlos, Royal Exchange Theatre, 1987 (King Philip) * The Black Prince, Aldwych Theatre, 1989 * Volpone, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990 * The Rehearsal, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990 * Lulu, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991 * Hippolytus, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991 * The School for Wives, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1993 * Hated Nightfall, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 1995 * Tartuffe, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1996 * The Government Inspector, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1997 * The Doctor's Dilemma, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1998 * The Jew of Malta, Almeida Theatre, 1999 * The Tempest, Almeida Theatre, 2000–01 * Faith Healer, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 2001 * Faith Healer, Gate Theatre in Dublin, 2001–2002 * The Embalmer, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 2002 * Henry IV, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 2004 * Lear, Sheffield Crucible, 2005 * Faith Healer, Booth Theatre, 2006 * John Gabriel Borkman, Donmar Warehouse, 2007 * Jonah and Otto, Manchester Royal Exchange, 2008 * Be Near Me, National Theatre of Scotland and Donmar Warehouse, 2009 * Six Characters in Search of an Author, Headlong Theatre, 2008–2010 * The Prince of Homburg, Donmar Warehouse, 2010 * Emperor and Galilean, National Theatre, 2011 * The Faith Machine, Royal Court Theatre, 2011 * Timon of Athens, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 2012 * Life of Galileo, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford, 2013 * Merchant of Venice, Almeida, London, 2014 * What Shadows, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Birmingham, 2016 Stage director * Venice Preserv'd, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1986 * Dom Juan, Royal Exchange Theatre, 1988 * The Possibilities, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1988 * Scenes from an Execution, Almeida Theatre, 1990 * The Rehearsal, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990 * Volpone, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1990 * Lulu, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991 * Hippolytus, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1991 * A Hard Heart, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1992 * Venice Preserv'd, Almeida Theatre Company, Almeida Theatre, 1995 Personal life McDiarmid is an atheist.Ian McDiarmid interview: To the dark side Filmography Film Television Awards and nominations References External links * * * * * Star Wars Actors Database at Nerf-Herders-Anonymous.net * Bio from the official Star Wars site }} Category:1944 births Category:Alumni of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Category:Alumni of the University of St Andrews Category:Alumni of the University of Dundee Category:Laurence Olivier Award winners Category:Living people Category:Royal Shakespeare Company members Category:Actors at the Royal Exchange, Manchester Category:Scottish male film actors Category:Scottish male stage actors Category:Scottish male television actors Category:People from Carnoustie Category:Tony Award winners Category:21st-century Scottish male actors Category:20th-century Scottish male actors Category:Scottish theatre directors Category:Scottish male Shakespearean actors Category:Male actors from Dundee Category:Scottish atheists